Today in Soap Opera History (July 19)

1940: The first episode of radio soap opera THE CARTERS OF ELM STREET, written by Mona Kent, aired on the Mutual Network.

1966: On ANOTHER WORLD, Pat told Alice (Jacqueline Courtney) she thought Lee identified with Hope Bauer (crossed over for a year from THE GUIDING LIGHT) as a motherless child. Alice said she thought Mike Bauer was a doll.

1966: On DARK SHADOWS, which was shot in live-to-tape format, actor Louis Edmonds (Roger) said his line incorrectly: tthe accident happened "a hundred miles" down the hill. He then quickly corrected himself with "seemed like a hundred miles - a hundred feet."

1984: On GUIDING LIGHT, Phillip (Grant Aleksander) and Bert (Charita Bauer) had a heart to heart talk while Alexandra (Beverlee McKinsey) was devastated when Lujack (Vincent Irizarry) rejected her not knowing he did it to protect her.

1985: John Aniston debuted as Victor Kiriakis on DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

1991: On SANTA BARBARA, Shell Danielson aired for the final time as Laken Lockridge, while Wanda De Jesus debuted as Santa Andrade.

1994: Christopher Stone aired for the final time as Bill Horton in DAYS OF OUR LIVES. Stone died in 1995 at age 53.

1999: On GENERAL HOSPITAL, Faison watched Felicia as she made her way to her car in the parking garage.

1999: On THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, it was decision day in the custody battle between Nick and Sharon Newman (Joshua Morrow and Sharon Case) vs. Alice Johnson (Tamara Clatterbuck) over Cassie (Camryn Grimes). And while Alice had basically retreated by this point, serious questions remained about the stability of Nick and Sharon's marriage and the untruths they presented to the court while making their case. But before a decision came down, Cassie surprised everyone by entering the courtroom, seeking to address the judge herself.

Thanks to FoxCrane for sending in this item.

2004: Charity Rahmer began a three-week run as Belle Black in DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

2007: MAD MEN premiered on the AMC network.

2009: On EMPIRE, Cane attempted to get to the bottom of what happened to his parents.

2010: Scott Clifton debuted as Liam Cooper in THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL.

9 comments:

Plum, Peter was in the news this year because a farmer in Illinois who had never met him left Peter and one other actor everything he owned when he died. I guess he became their fan at some point and didn't have any family. I was posting updates in our news roundups (here's one from April).

Re: Louis Edmonds ... I'm still trying to figure out which episode of Dark Shadows he did without his pants on... lol! .. In his bio, he recounts a time when he'd already left the set (thinking he was done) and was changing in his dressing room. But they yelled for him to get back on the set pronto to finish a scene, and he didn't even have time to put his pants back on. They shot him from the waist up!

If you listen to the scene just before Louis' scene, just after Carolyn says "Besides, I'm a very good swimmer", just as Burke touches her cheek with his right hand someone is whispering. It sounds like some says "Louis, get down here" and then just after the kiss the person says it again a bit more loudly. You can definitely make out the word "Louis" and nearly as well make out the word "down". Check it out!

Fox Crane: Me too, me too, me too! I have never been able to work out which episode that is. I'm also on the lookout for an episode Nancy Barrett mentioned in an interview where she "lost" her lines and had to do the scene facing away from her scene partner (a pretty important "guest" actor)....